Silver spheres

[china]

I need/wish to make some small silver sphere /balls from Argentium, 4.9mm they need to be consistent in size and will be drilled and tapped
just wondering what options there may be that I may not be aware of current options

1 create by torch forming on the end of wire, too difficult to get consistent size
2 producing on a lathe
3 form in hydraulic press using machined dies

Any other ideas

[TDA20]

Could you get them cast from a bead / ball bearing of the right size?

[china]

Yes as a last resort I could cast them, I am just not a fan of cast items

[Dennis]

I've just been messing with balls and would find it too fiddly.
Suggest you search for 2 hole beads. They won't even need tapping, because a slightly oversized screw will tap itself.
These from Rio Grande are just too small for you, but there will be others in USA:https://www.riogrande.com/product/Argentium-Silver-4mm-Round-Seamless-Look-Bead/692177 Dennis.

[china]

that is thought looks as though they are hollow I want solid, I will do some more googling, RioGrande will no longer deal with me as I am not a business

[mizgeorge]

I do these by weight. I'd start with 0.5g of argentium wire (I usually use jump rings as it's quick to count) and just melt in a 5mm depression in a charcoal block made with a ball burr. Check size and adjust as needed. Then just count out the same number of rings each time.

[Nick martin]

Personally I'd cast them using an appropriate sized dapping punch or a ballbearing to form the mould.

Wouldn't take much cleanup tbh. Using a metal lathe really isn't an option.

This way they would be solid.

Or as said above, create a depression, flux and melt. Drilling would be the tricky part however.

If it were a one-off then I'd consider making the bead in two halves, each with a hemisphere channel then soldering them together.

This method means the hole is dead centre as you're not trying to lineup a drill bit. Its how I formed a recent bead for a Pandora bracelet as the rose gold alloy was too tough to drill out.

Cheers,

Nick

[china]

Drilling is the simple part I have jig i made for the drill press that I used for pearls before I purchased a dedicated pearl drill, yes I think I will do some experimentation to see which I think
is the best path to take at this stage it is a one off, although one offs have horrible habit of becoming 2 offs 3 offs 4 offs etc.